This and That

A few things:

• It’s just two weeks until school starts.  I’m starting to get nervous/excited.
• I’ve all but decided to go ahead and splurge on an L.L. Bean backpack for Joanna.  I waffled a bit between their “junior” and “regular” size.  I want it to fit her okay, but I also want her to be able to use it for awhile.  First I decided to go ahead and get the regular size.  But the pattern we liked wasn’t available until November.  So I decided to get the junior size since it really looked like the best for her tiny body.  Then I got distracted and waited a couple of days and now the pattern we like in that bag isn’t available until late September.  That’s what I get for waiting so late!  So I think the plan is to let her use an inexpensive bag for at least the first few weeks of school.  Then we’ll invest.
• I just realized something amazing about my blog that I probably should have already known.  When I want to look up something (let’s say a recipe or when it was we flew to Oklahoma), I log into my blog homepage and look it up in my listing of posts.  I’ve tried adding a search bar so that anyone could search my blog, but it never worked.  While searching for help in Blogger, I learned that there’s already a search bar (that works!) on the blog homepage!  It’s at the very top left.  Am I the stupidest blogger ever?
• If you’ll notice right below my beautiful header (that soooo needs updating), it says “home” and “some favorite recipes.”  I’ve started adding recipes that I’ve blogged about to that other page to make it easy (mainly for me!) to find them.  I know I don’t have them all, but it’s a start!
• I’m enjoying the last few minutes of Matt’s vacation right now.  It’s going to be kind of sad getting back to reality (and waking up early!), but this week was just so nice.  We are definitely going to need to do this again!

This girl is pretty good at using her imagination.  She pulled out all our maracas to use as handbells and put them on her little table.  Then she got this other instrument thing (that I can’t remember the name of) to use as a mallet and put on baby doll socks for gloves!  My little ding-a-ling:

Part of my most recent Amazon order came yesterday.

I opened the giant box to find a much smaller envelope.

Then I opened the envelope to find my very small SD card.

Someone explain that ridiculous abuse of packaging to me.

I’ve been wanting James to try drinking out of a regular cup at meal times.

These super-tiny jars are the perfect size!  He was having trouble with the tilting action needed when I gave him anything taller.

He LOVED it! 

We turned on the closing ceremonies of the Olympics tonight.  At about 7:15, Matt noticed this:

She was OUT too.  We were plenty loud and James even talked to her and held her hand.

I sure hope she’s not getting sick!

I probably should not have let her stay asleep as she’ll probably be up at 6am.  But I did.  I also let her go to bed without brushing her teeth.  And she’s still wearing her dress.  She opened her little eyes when Matt moved her to her bed, but I don’t think she really stirred.  She is out!

I’ve been telling Matt that one day I’m going to wake up and see that James needs a haircut right away!  I think that day was today.  He’s been getting close, and I think it’s time.  Of course it would happen right after Matt’s vacay.  Time for a Mommy/James outing to the hair place!

James is Cute and Laundry Soap

Then end of our vacation has been rather anticlimactic, but still very nice.

This was from last night.  The girls are always dressing up that boy.

Though sometimes he does it to himself.

He pulled Natalie’s swim shorts off the drying rack today and wore them as a hat.

I’ve been pretty domestic today, thank goodness!  I have just not felt like baking or really doing anything more than the basics in the kitchen lately.  I’m sure the lack of desire to bake has something to do with it being August in Houston.  :)  But I had such an itch I had to bake a few things today, regardless of the heat.

Sadly, I have no pictures to prove it.  :)  I simply hate the light in my kitchen, and it’s too much work to haul stuff to a whole other room while I’m trying to wrangle kids and multitask in the the kitchen.  SO, that’s why no pictures.  :)

I made two loaves of banana bread, a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and a double batch of pancakes (then we ate some for dinner).  Everything is bagged and in the freezer for quick breakfasts and snacks.  Yay!!!

I also mixed up a batch of laundry soap.  I’m going to post my current “recipe” here since I keep looking it up every time I make a batch.

I yanked this picture off my blog from a couple of years ago because I’m just too tired from all this domesticity to go into the pantry and take another one.

Wow my DSLR takes such better pictures.  :)

Anyway – the ingredients:

• 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
• 1 cup of Super Washing Soda
• 1 cup of Borax

The various recipes out there in cyberspace call for different ratios, but I’m pretty sure this is what I did last time.  Checking the blog though, I don’t think it’s what I did the time or two before.  I think the amounts of soda and borax were double what I used this time.  I think I’ll just see how I like my laundry and adjust if needed.  :)

Step 1 – Buy extra Fels Naptha and let it sit {wherever you keep cleaning products and such} until the next time to need it.  I have found it grates sooooo much easier and you can really get a powder from it if it isn’t fresh from the store.

Step 2 – Have your husband or some other willing strong person (it could even be you) grate the Fels Naptha on the fine side of the grater.

That is sadly the last picture due to all the multitasking and not wanting to leave the kitchen to take a decent picture and not wanting to settle for less than decent.  So the rest will just be words.

Step 3 – Pulse the grated soap in the food processor until it’s a powder.  {Probably the whole thing could be done in the food processor, but this seems to work the best for us; you could also skip the processing if you don’t have one.}

Step 4 – Mix the soap powder with the borax and washing soda in the container of your choice.

Step 5 – Do laundry!  Add 1T to regular, even full loads.  You can add a little more to very soiled loads or a little less to small loads.  I put the detergent in when I’m filling the washer so it has a chance to dissolve a bit before I add the clothes.  If I’m washing in cold water, I will sometimes close the lid and let the water agitate for a minute to help that process along.

Notes:

• I don’t use this detergent on kitchen towels, unless I’m out of anything else, simply because it will build up over time, and I wash those a lot.  I also don’t use this on diapers for the same reason. But it’s fabulous on regular clothes. 
• I wash the food processor parts and the cheese grater very very very well after I use them to make detergent.  Someday I will have dedicated laundry tools, but for now this makes me feel okay.

And now I’m off to eat cookies and lay on the couch.  I’m so thankful I have one more weekend before we get back to reality!

Backyard Swimming Fun!

I told the girls we would probably go swimming this week, thinking we’d hit the neighborhood pool.  They were perfectly happy to just set up our little pools in the backyard though!

That is much easier than hauling everybody and our stuff to the pool.

It’s also very shady in the backyard so we don’t need to deal with sunscreen.

And I am actually sitting inside while the kiddos swim outside with Daddy.

I went out to take these pics though.

But then of course I came back in to my air conditioned living room to edit and post them.  Hallelujah!

Joanna is just the sweetest big sister!

Not loving the strap on the hat.  :)

James was so happy to just stand and splash in his little pool.

He saw Joanna going under water – this is his attempt to do what she was doing.  :)

He lost his balance a couple of times and ended up with water in the face.

He’s now in the big pool with the sisters.  They keep going back and forth to the little one though.

I need to get up and make dinner.  I wonder if anything has appeared in the kitchen to eat?

Maybe I’ll just put together a snacky dinner we can eat “poolside.”

I am LOVING my summer vacation!

Happy Birthday Gran!

Today is my mom’s birthday!!  I wouldn’t dare post on here how old she is.  But I will say this was a big year for us.  {And she’s twice my age.}

She came over for a quick visit this morning.  (And she brought lunch!)

Isn’t my wrapping job AMAZING?!

The kids drew made her cards and I printed some pictures for her.

Joanna is saying “Biscuits!!!”

Mom even brought fried okra, which sadly I do not get to each as much of as I used to.  I can’t believe all my children love it as much as I do, the moochers.

Anyway…

Happy Birthday my momma – we sure love you!

Ribbon Dancing and Cushaw Squash

This week has been fabulous.  It’s going by much too quickly, but I’m loving it!  For the first time since 2005, it feels like summer vacation.  :)

Yesterday James had a tie from a sweater of mine.  He used it to do some ribbon dancing.

Isn’t she beautiful?!!

And so smart and sweet and loving.  And whiney.  :)

This morning Matt and the kids were prepping the yard for mowing when they found squash on our plant gone wild.

If you’ll remember, back at the end of May I found what seemed like a yellow squash plant growing out of the compost.

As it grew and spread and became much more vine-like, I thought it seemed less like a yellow squash plant and more like watermelon or pumpkin.  I didn’t really think it was either of those though.  I pretty much thought it wouldn’t do anything but grow around and around our compost area.

Today, seeing the little guys, I know what they are!  They’re cushaw squash.  Or at least that’s what I decided they were last year when my grandma gave us some out of her garden!

And that makes sooooo much sense seeing the vine and how late in the summer they’re growing.  They’re sort of a cross between winter and summer squash.  They have more of a hard shell like butternut, but you can eat it like zucchini.  We ate it all kinds of ways last year.  We grilled it.  I probably also steamed and baked it.  I know I put it on a pizza.  I will be SO EXCITED if these little guys continue to grow and we can actually eat them!

Cow, c’mere

Yesterday we had a very full day!  In the morning Natalie, James, and I headed to Martha’s for a little play date.  Joanna stayed with Matt and had Daddy/daughter time.  They rode bikes and played at the park.

As I was walking home from Martha’s {read: sweaty and red with my hair up} I was stopped and interviewed by KHOU about an attempted assault that had happened the day before.

And then I made the news at 4, 6, and 10.

I debated linking to the story, but here goes. :)

Check out my 35 seconds of fame.

Anyway, after rest time we headed to Dovie’s to pick up milk and eggs.  Dovie is so sweet when we visit to show the kids around to all the animals.

I forgot I was shooting on Manual and ended up with a very overexposed picture first.  I quickly switched to my usual Av mode and reshot, but I should have also manually focused on the girls.  :)

Anyway… here they are in the golf cart, ready to go.  I put James on Joanna’s lap and let Natalie sit on my lap so we all fit.

We stopped at some roaming chickens.  Dovie picked one up so the kids could pet her.  James LOVED all of this.  The girls did too of course, but I couldn’t get over how James was absolutely not afraid of anything!

This is Lily, whom we get our milk from.  Hi Lily!

This is her baby.  I forgot his name.

Speaking of no fear:

It looks a little like he leaned it toward her, but in the end he was afraid of her and ran off.

We also got to see where they milk Lily in the mornings. 

Here the kiddos are looking at the older cows, in a different pasture.

James was saying “cows, c’mere.”  He is so stinkin’ cute!  He says it to me too sometimes – he makes he hand do this little beckoning motion and says “Momma, c’mere.”  I cannot resist it. 

The cows could though.  :)

There I am.

I was walking past Matt who was still shooting.  I was talking.  And apparently making some kind of annoyed face.

Later that day it was enchilada night!!!

Andy and Christiana were back in town so the girls were well entertained!

We stayed a bit later than usual since the Olympics was on Grandma’s big TV, but eventually we had to go home and put the kids to bed.

Today is already more than half over, but I’ll blog about it tonight.